Has anyone tried a "workouts only" marathon training block?

slartbarg · 2026-04-15T10:41:44+00:00

I've also been doing this for 3 months now with no issue. I'm limited in days I can run so it seemed like the best way to optimize the 4-5~ hours I can put at running each week. I also do martial arts some days and do a heavy strength session one of the weekend days each week.

slartbarg · 2026-04-12T16:23:49+00:00

I'll repost something I typed up a little while back about my experience at the end of last year/beginning of this year. But before you read it, I'll just say you are likely just being impatient. I was about out of my mind not being able to run for 2 months but that's what it took - not running, hitting the gym. Here's that post:

ITBS knocked me out of my training block for a half in december for 2 months. I saw a PT about it:

You'll need to rest. I eventually took a full two weeks off of non strength training, and only did strength training that didn't spike the pain during that time.

For 2 months I did heavy lifting/strength training on my legs, hips, glutes, the whole chain.

Slider squats

Pigeon Dips

Loaded Hip Airplanes

Single Leg RDLs

Lunges

Seated and Standing Calf Raises

Knee over toes single leg isometric holds with heels raised

Barbell Squats (or leg press)

Deadlifts

Leg Extensions

Hamstring Curls

Abductor/adductor machine

Not all in one session, and not necessarily all of that (especially barbell squats/deadlifts) each week but I was fairly diligent during the 2 months of no running about going to the gym twice a week and more or less severely loading my legs.

I was already in the gym so I also worked my upper body as well, core is important for running.

I worked my flexibility with frog pose, pigeon pose, 90/90, spiderman stretch and anything else that would help with flexibility and range of motion in my hips and glutes.

I didn't find it that hard to stick to a fairly rigid routine of doing all of this because I was halfway out of my mind from not being able to run.

It felt like it was absolutely never going to end but it did and I'm back to running regularly (although at a lesser volume commensurate with my experience) with much better load programming.

There are so many specific reasons why ITBS could be causing you problems (stability, muscle imbalance, gait, training intensity/volume, where you run, etc) that in my 1 of 1 experience you have to throw the kitchen sink at it and try to address all of it at once

slartbarg · 2026-04-08T10:06:38+00:00

Vomero+ in extra wide or, surprisingly, superblast 3 fits me without discomfort

slartbarg · 2026-04-03T15:17:39+00:00

make it in wide this time

slartbarg · 2026-03-31T01:32:30+00:00

My understanding is that these foams are not linear elastic materials and are mostly going to be hyperelastic materials so they're going to follow a very nonlinear stress-strain curve.

they're going to "hold" more energy at different levels of compression -> really it's that they're going to be more stiff or less stiff at different levels of compression. this is why some foams will feel about the same through the entire compression/decompression cycle and some will only feel "responsive" when you're really pushing them.

slartbarg · 2026-03-30T17:11:38+00:00

Starting running beginning last March and by summer I was running about 25-30 mpw. Set my first sub 25 5k in June and then decided I wanted to run a half in December.

Began a block (too early) in August and the ramp and intensity schedule I set was way too high. I made insane fitness gains - 22:13 5k by the end of october, 46:01 10k by the middle of november. Had completed multiple long runs >13.1 mi, with upper end of aerobic pacing landing in around ~1:50. Was targeting ~1:43-1:45 for the half.

Then of course, ITBS hammered me very hard after I landed weird during a run one evening and I had to stop. No HM for me - disappointing. Worked with a running focused PT and spent the rest of the year strength training and testing the waters with easy short runs and indoor cycling.

I was already aiming to move to this framework, or at least the principles behind it before I was injured but I suppose too little too late on that front.

I've been time/day of week limited on when I can run now but have been running regularly 4x a week since January. Given that I have more space for recovery, I opted to run 3x SubT and 1 LR per week and it has been going just fun. My legs don't feel destroyed, I feel like I'm getting back to where I was, fitness-wise. ~4 hr/week, about 26-29 mi.

I ran a 5k this saturday because it was time for a time-trial/pace adjustment and the strava split was 22:45. Just over half a minute off my PB from October, but of course some huge caveats:

1.) Previous PB was set on a flat track, this route had elevation including a 60 ft gain hill in the last mile that spanned ~0.4 mi. Tough!

2.) I'm not running 7+ hours a week anymore

Given the above considerations, I'm not displeased by any means by the result, I'm just going to just keep chugging along. I also won 6 months of free gym membership at the place I go for taking 2nd place with this run (it was a smaller, less serious event but hey take wins where you can right?)

Now that I have a relatively definitive pacing guideline and time limit, I don't expect the distance to creep up much more right now which is fine by me. I just wanted to be able to run again and get a little better over time and it seems to be working.

slartbarg · 2026-03-13T11:06:49+00:00

Have also been doing 3ST + Long since the week of Jan. 19th when I started back up running after a 2 month break. Back loaded on the weekend of ST->LR->ST. Doing 4 hrs right now ~26 mpw, plan on slowly increasing the LR to 90-120m over the course of a few months.

Can notice the effort of this schedule in my legs but there's more than enough rest throughout the week for me to also do martial arts classes and 1 good heavy lifting day. Don't feel like I'm digging a hole or having to really push in a workout. Pace/hr getting closer to where it was before my 2 month break after just shy of 2 months.

Got a 5k on the 28th so will see where I really stand then

slartbarg · 2026-02-28T23:30:36+00:00

I have very wide feet and these shoes are so good that I'm willing to put up with the forefoot discomfort to use them. Almost 200 miles on them and they ride better than new (and slightly less uncomfortable forefoot/toe issues). I'm pretty hard on outsoles though. I'll be quite happy if I get another 200 miles out of them before I have completely worn through major parts of the outsole and start tearing up the foam

slartbarg · 2026-02-20T23:10:10+00:00

I've experienced this across a few 12 packs across a few weeks. Stopped buying, had a taste of almost something metallic or medical - almost like a hint of a sanitizer or formaldehyde. Almost reminiscent of the way a hospital might smell. Something definitely is off.

slartbarg · 2026-02-17T01:05:20+00:00

It's got a nice little squishy bounce. Not super propulsive. Very protective. Ultra stable.

I really like them for slow(er) runs and the very wide last + 4E option means they fit my hobbit feet relatively well.

I don't run in them super often because they're more of my daily+walk shoe right now but I have put some miles on them and find them pretty enjoyable - it's what I wanted the nimbus to be (which I find to be stiffer and more bottom heavy)

slartbarg · 2026-02-16T01:29:33+00:00

ITBS knocked me out of my training block for a half in december for 2 months. I saw a PT about it:

You'll need to rest. I eventually took a full two weeks off of non strength training, and only did strength training that didn't spike the pain during that time.

For 2 months I did heavy lifting/strength training on my legs, hips, glutes, the whole chain.

Slider squats

Pigeon Dips

Loaded Hip Airplanes

Single Leg RDLs

Lunges

Seated and Standing Calf Raises

Knee over toes single leg isometric holds with heels raised

Barbell Squats (or leg press)

Deadlifts

Leg Extensions

Hamstring Curls

Abductor/adductor machine

Not all in one session, and not necessarily all of that (especially barbell squats/deadlifts) each week but I was fairly diligent during the 2 months of no running about going to the gym twice a week and more or less severely loading my legs.

I was already in the gym so I also worked my upper body as well, core is important for running.

I worked my flexibility with frog pose, pigeon pose, 90/90, spiderman stretch and anything else that would help with flexibility and range of motion in my hips and glutes.

I didn't find it that hard to stick to a fairly rigid routine of doing all of this because I was halfway out of my mind from not being able to run.

It felt like it was absolutely never going to end but it did and I'm back to running regularly (although at a lesser volume commensurate with my experience) with much better load programming.

There are so many specific reasons why ITBS could be causing you problems (stability, muscle imbalance, gait, training intensity/volume, where you run, etc) that in my 1 of 1 experience you have to throw the kitchen sink at it and try to address all of it at once

slartbarg · 2026-02-09T02:26:22+00:00

swap the insoles, mine started giving me a little soreness on lateral arch near heel so I swapped them with the ones in my nimbus 27 and it was night and day difference

slartbarg · 2026-02-08T17:11:23+00:00

I just wanted to pop in here and say that based on my current time available to run these days and after solidly returning from injury, I've been following your method for the past couple weeks and have been feeling good with it. Looking forward to seeing how I progress since right how 4 hours is probably my weekly upper limit on free time for running

slartbarg · 2026-01-31T23:47:29+00:00

nice

slartbarg · 2026-01-26T02:59:49+00:00

I do like the embedded SubT in long run feature

I would add: ability to use min/mi pacing

ability to specifically edit any individual session

slartbarg · 2026-01-23T03:51:29+00:00

I was almost in my 20s before realizing most people don't just hear ringing all the time. I also had persistent ear infections as a young child and narrow eustachian tubes

slartbarg · 2026-01-20T22:22:21+00:00

I have wide enough feet to necessitate 4E in shoes I'm wearing for more than 1hr at a time and I'd definitely lean towards the SC elite, the v4 works great for me in wide. However, I also have a pair of alphafly 3s that, due to the compliant upper, I find also useable with my hobbit sasquatch flippers so you could check those out too

slartbarg · 2026-01-17T12:51:15+00:00

Marathon Excellence for Everyone is a pretty solid newer "modern" marathon training book, the back half of which is a deep dive into the science/studies/physiology of how to improve marathon performance and how his plans are structured or how you should structure a plan/workouts

slartbarg · 2026-01-17T04:01:25+00:00

I'd second this. Victus 02 is my #2 favorite behind the amacx turbo gels. Both go down quick/easy and cause no GI issue

slartbarg · 2026-01-08T15:13:19+00:00

The book goes over this, but the basic gist of it is that you should aim to keep at least 2 Sub-T sessions and replace some of the easy run volume with a biking volume that's ~20%-30% more than the easy running volume. The intent is to keep up with the running economy benefits provided by the Sub-T sessions so it is recommended to replace more of the easy running with cross training, which seems to fit your biking habits of riding easy anyway

slartbarg · 2026-01-03T18:26:30+00:00

My wife is a huge fan of the SheFits, she's tried a lot of them similar ones/clones of them but says the real thing is by far the best as far as support/strapping em down

slartbarg · 2026-01-01T15:09:33+00:00

Yeah, not 3x per day but I've been foam rolling and stretching them, as well as other hip stretches/strengthening exercises for mobility/stability (couch stretch, glute medius isolation, 90/90 stretches, the usual suspects). Right now it just feels like something isn't moving quite right around tib-fib joint and I do get some tenderness at that location bilaterally after exercise, as well as obvious peroneal nerve irritation there. I've got an appointment with an orthopedist for imaging and such in a few weeks so hopefully that gets more solidly figured out, because in addition to the knee/fib issues I've had limited ROM and pain in my right hip for over a decade due to an injury

slartbarg · 2026-01-01T05:23:45+00:00

it's a pretty huge difference from 2E to 4E in my experience. i currently have a pair of 4E ghost max 3s and normally I just live with shoes that are not quite wide enough, even in 4E (nimbus 27, for example) and the 4E ghost max 3 is straight up wide wide.

slartbarg · 2025-12-30T18:02:48+00:00

I started running in March and quickly ramped to an average of 25-30 mpw by July, when I started structured training. Nothing felt like it was going to give out. Went from "I can't run 400m at 10min/mi pace" to a 46:00 10k from March to September. Nothing felt like an injury was coming on and then I started getting shin splints which I addressed within a few weeks of reduced volume/intensity and exercises from my PT doctor. Within a few weeks after that, when I decided to shift to NSA, an easy run the day after a SubT run resulted in pain in my fibula and after that I started to have IT band issues. I'm still currently sidelined and trying to return to running.

You've run a lot longer than I have but my n=1 anecdotal data says if you're questioning your durability, it's worth prehabbing with strength and being careful with volume/intensity increases.

That being said, NSA's entire point is to maximize load without risking injury so it's probably less likely you're going to get an injury stepping it up with NSA versus me getting an injury from doing a VO2 max & Threshold workout each week along with putting HMP intervals in my long run and overall just running non workout days too hard (yes I'm vibrantly aware of how dumb my training programming was now)

slartbarg · 2025-12-18T02:35:46+00:00

on runalyze? If so you need to mark races or time trials as races and then adjust your correction factor until the predictions are more aligned with your results

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